<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Delta by deepestbluest</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26178445">Delta</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestbluest/pseuds/deepestbluest'>deepestbluest</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canonical Character Death, Canonical Child Abuse, Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, Established Relationship, Gen, M/M, but they do love each other, kishimoto may be too cowardly to acknowledge hashirama and mito's kids but i'm not afraid of an oc, technically it shouldn't be hashirama &amp; mito but neither of them is the other's first choice</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:33:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,284</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26178445</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestbluest/pseuds/deepestbluest</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hashirama and the people he sleeps next to</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Senju Hashirama &amp; Senju Itama, Senju Hashirama &amp; Senju Kawarama, Senju Hashirama &amp; Senju Tobirama, Senju Hashirama &amp; Tsunade, Senju Hashirama &amp; Uzumaki Mito, Senju Hashirama/Uchiha Madara</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>71</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Delta</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>CW: the Tobirama section builds on Butsuma hitting Hashirama and discusses some of the psychological impacts of growing up in that kind of atmosphere</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Kawarama</b>
</p><p>Kawarama is the baby.</p><p>Each of them was at one point. Hashirama was the first born, the first to be the baby and the first not to be. Tobirama was born after him, the new baby until he wasn't. After Tobirama, the title went to Itama, and from Itama, it was passed to Kawarama.</p><p>It will always be Kawarama now. They won't have any other brothers. They'll never have a sister.</p><p>Hashirama can't see any of his brothers in the dark room they share, but when he turns over, he can make out the darker shape that must be Kawarama.</p><p>The sniffling stopped; Kawarama must have finally cried himself to sleep.</p><p>Hashirama doesn't blame him for crying. He’s the baby; this was his first funeral.</p><p>Tobirama helped Hashirama distract their father, and Kawarama made it through unharmed.</p><p>The wound on Kawarama’s cheek has finally healed into a scar.</p><p>Remembering it makes Hashirama’s stomach roll. Kawarama and the cousin he'd been training with were supposed to be using blunted weapons. They'd been told the blades were dull.</p><p>But they hadn't checked. A good shinobi always checks</p><p>Kawarama is six. Their cousin is seven. They'd trusted their fathers, and now, Kawarama will always have a mark to remind him of the lesson their cousin accidentally carved into his cheek.</p><p>That isn't how he sees it, but Kawarama is the baby. He’s six years old, and that was the first time someone let him get hurt on purpose.</p><p>Hashirama can't promise him it was the last. </p><p>Tomorrow will bring the same endless danger it's brought every other day, and before he knows it, he’ll have far deeper scars.</p><p>But he’ll still be the baby.</p><p>Hashirama closes his eyes and makes himself breathe in time with Kawarama until sleep finally comes.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>Itama</b>
</p><p>Hashirama hates being a child. No one listens to him. No one listens to any of them. The adults want to keep fighting, so that’s what the family is going to do.</p><p>They don't care about Hashirama. They don't care about Tobirama or Itama. They didn't care about Kawarama.</p><p>Kawarama is dead, and their father hadn't let them leave even one flower with him.</p><p>Hashirama’s cheek doesn't sting anymore, but his eyes do. His fingers ache from being clenched into fists.</p><p>If Tobirama hadn't stepped in front of him-</p><p>Itama shifts in his sleep, disturbed by how hard Hashirama is squeezing him, and Hashirama pushes his anger away, apologizing softly as he adjusts his hold on his sleeping brother.</p><p>Kawarama is dead, but Itama is alive.</p><p>Does that make Itama the baby?</p><p>Hashirama doesn't know.</p><p>Tobirama said it does, but he also said that Kawarama’s soul might not have begun the journey to the Pure Land. Some of the other clans talk about the spirits of the dead remaining even though they aren't trapped; they pray to remember them and ask for their help.</p><p>Maybe Kawarama still is the baby.</p><p>Hashirama would rather pray for his brother to keep Itama warm than pray for him to leave.</p><p>The cold makes its way to them through every crack in the house. It slips through the doors and finds gaps in the walls. It reaches up through tatami mats and their mattresses. Hashirama and Itama are sharing a futon to keep warm, but the cold still finds its way in.</p><p>Itama shivers in his sleep, and Hashirama adjusts the duvet to cover him better.</p><p>Tobirama hasn't come back yet.</p><p>Their father has been keeping Tobirama out late. The two of them, along with some of their cousins and their father’s advisors, meet in another part of the castle, and more often than not, Tobirama doesn’t return until long after dark.</p><p>When he does come back, he barely acknowledges them.</p><p>After the second meeting, he moved his futon as far from them he could, and none of them could convince him to bring it back. He gets up early and spends the day working in scrolls he won't show anyone but the adults. He won't even show Hashirama.</p><p>Hashirama has never seen their father so pleased or Tobirama so determined, but no one will tell Hashirama anything. He's just a child.</p><p>Itama has barely spoken since their cousins brought Kawarama’s body back.</p><p>All Hashirama wants is for his brothers to be happy, but Itama can't stop shivering, Tobirama looks down on them, and Kawarama is dead.</p><p>How can his brothers be happy if Hashirama can't even keep them alive?</p><p>Maybe it would be better if Kawarama left for the Pure Land after all.</p><p>Maybe that's the only place they'll have peace.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>Madara</b>
</p><p>The feeling of something digging into Hashirama's chest wakes him in the middle of the night. He tenses, but the pain doesn't escalate. He recognizes it after a moment and relaxes.</p><p>“It's me,” he says, gently straightening Madara’s fingers. Madara didn't draw blood this time, and he lets Hashirama weave their fingers together. “Was it a bad dream?”</p><p>Madara doesn't answer, but he's breathing too fast and Hashirama’s skin is damp where Madara’s forehead is pressed against it.</p><p>The room smells of fear sweat, and Hashirama is tempted to open the door. There's a nice breeze outside. They'll both sleep better if they let the wind blow away the remains of Madara’s nightmare.</p><p>But if he does that, Madara will take offense and slink away to wash himself off, away from Hashirama, or storm out. He’ll return to his house and keep having nightmares on his own.</p><p>So Hashirama doesn't make any seals. He doesn’t get up. The door remains closed, and the two of them stay where they are. Hashirama will air out the mattress and duvet after Madara leaves in the morning.</p><p>Madara pulls Hashirama closer and touches his lips to the back of Hashirama’s neck.</p><p>Still muzzy with sleep, Hashirama twists his neck, hoping for a kiss, and some of the tightness in his chest eases when Madara indulges him.</p><p>There's something else going on with Madara these days. Hashirama can feel it.</p><p>But Madara won't tell him and Hashirama is learning that this Madara, who makes fun of him for clinging but insists on sleeping beside him, can only be pushed in certain ways or he retreats.</p><p>Madara isn't Tobirama, though. Hashirama can get him to talk. He just has to find the right question to ask.</p><p>“Let's go for a walk tomorrow,” he suggests as he lets his head return to its earlier position. “There's a bird making a nest in one of the trees. I don't recognize it.”</p><p>“I'm not a bird expert,” Madara points out, voice rough.</p><p>“You know more than I do.”</p><p>“As do most children.”</p><p>Madara huffs as he says it, as if it's beneath him to acknowledge Hashirama’s lack of knowledge, and Hashirama smiles to himself.</p><p>Their walks are always good. Whatever is bothering Madara, he’ll forget it when they leave the village.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>Tobirama</b>
</p><p>Hashirama has never had this much time to grieve before. Madara’s absence rattles around his head, waking him when he tries to sleep and distracting him when he tries to work.</p><p>It's exhausting.</p><p>He's so tired he can't sleep.</p><p>He hears footsteps on the engawa, somehow sharp even without shoes, approaching his door, but they don’t belong to Madara. There's only one person who walks like this.</p><p>“Come in, Tobirama,” Hashirama calls.</p><p>He sits up, readying himself for whatever problem Tobirama has come to deliver to him. Working under Tobirama’s watchful eye will ease the rattling.</p><p>Tobirama’s hair glows as he delicately enters the room, deliberately heavy steps becoming silent. He won't say what he did that drained the color from his body, his refusal to explain has done nothing to counter the villagers’ growing tendency to call him jiji.</p><p>But it isn't Tobirama’s hair or his personality that catches Hashirama’s attention as Tobirama closes the door behind himself.</p><p>“Jinbei?” Hashirama asks, curious. He hasn't seen Tobirama dressed properly to sleep since they were children. “Were you actually in bed?”</p><p>“I was,” Tobirama says evenly. He crosses the room and, without another word, kneels beside Hashirama’s futon.</p><p>Surprised, Hashirama blinks at him. “Tobirama?”</p><p>“You haven't been sleeping,” Tobirama says simply, but there's a reprimand in his voice.</p><p>Hashirama sighs. “Have you come to henpeck me?”</p><p>“If I must.”</p><p>“Why?” Hashirama’s voice is bitter. “I've lost sleep before. You never came to see me then.”</p><p>He doesn't mean for it to be an accusation, but it is.</p><p>Tobirama’s voice is even as he says, “You sleep better when there's someone next to you.”</p><p>He's right, but that isn't an answer.</p><p>“Go home, Tobirama," Hashirama sighs. "I’ll be fine.”</p><p>When they were children, before Itama and Kawarama could join, they’d only had each other. The relief of Tobirama lying down beside him, chakra undisturbed despite spending the day fighting each other to please their father, had been Hashirama's greatest comfort.</p><p>“I’m familiar with insomnia,” Tobirama says, ignoring Hashirama’s command. “The hokage can't afford it.”</p><p>Too tired to argue, Hashirama asks, “When did you have trouble sleeping?”</p><p>“When did our father begin to make me into the son you refused to be?” Tobirama asks. He sounds tired. “He wanted one who would do necessary evils. He was going to make you into that person, so I convinced him to choose me instead.”</p><p>Hashirama's heart sinks. Their father only had one way of making things.</p><p>“It was difficult, but once you began questioning whether I wanted to be your brother and I didn't reassure you, he accepted that my request was genuine.” Tobirama huffs an unhappy laugh. “That was my first necessary evil.”</p><p>Hashirama stares at him, throat tight. "Deceiving me, you mean?"</p><p>“Of course. I'm not a good man, but I’ve always wanted you to be happy.”</p><p>Hashirama squeezes his eyes shut. He should say something, but what can he say to his little brother who exiled himself?</p><p>An apology? A reprimand?</p><p>“Tobirama, I…”</p><p>“I made my decision, and I don't regret it.” Tobirama presses firmly on Hashirama’s chest. “You aren't resting because the First Gate isn't working properly. Lie back so I can redirect your chakra.”</p><p>Hashirama obeys, and after a moment, Tobirama lays a cool hand on his face.</p><p>An old memory rushes to the surface.</p><p>
  <em> Hashirama’s stomach is cramping; his skin is too tight, so hot it burns. He can't catch his breath, and his heart is pounding in his throat. He might be crying, but he might just be sweating into his eyes. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> A hand touches his cheek, and the worst of the pain fades. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “See?” a woman asks, her voice soft. “He’ll be just fine, Tobi-chan.” She makes a curious sound. “What's that? You want to help? What a good little brother! Lay your hand here, okay? Right on Ha-chan’s forehead.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> A second, smaller hand touches Hashirama’s face. It’s cold, and Hashirama sighs in relief. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Very good! He's much better now,” his mother promises. “He has to rest now, okay? Say goodnight.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> His little brother brushes Hashirama’s forehead with a broad, callused hand and says, his voice too deep to be a child’s, “Goodnight, Hashirama.” </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>Mito</b>
</p><p>His wife never fully adjusts to Konoha’s climate. Or if she does, it happens after Hashirama dies.</p><p>“Why is it so cold?” she asks, just as she has in the middle of every cold season. “Why can't the temperature ever just be <em> nice?” </em></p><p>Hashirama bites his tongue against a laugh as Mito sinks deeper under the blankets until she's covered up to her eyes. </p><p>“Do you miss the summer heat?” he counters.</p><p>Mito narrows her eyes at him. “You know I don't,” she grumbles, her voice muffled by the blankets. “And be careful, Hashirama, or I'll make you as cold as I am.”</p><p>Her eyes shine, pleased with her threat, and Hashirama doesn't fight the urge to pull her close.</p><p>She jokes easily with him, and Hashirama wishes the rest of the village could see his wife’s warm side. The stern jinchuuriki who carries the Nine Tails isn't a cold, unfriendly woman who bears her burden solely because it's her duty to.</p><p>Mito is stern because that's what the village expects of their jinchuuriki. The villagers need to see that her priority is keeping the monster locked away.</p><p>They wouldn't be comforted by the knowledge that the strength of their jinchuuriki’s seal is built on the love Mito feels. Love is too fleeting. It fades. It becomes rage and resentment.</p><p>It couldn't possibly cage a monster.</p><p>“How do you feel?” Hashirama asks, adjusting himself so he can rest his cheek on the crown of her head. “Does the Nine Tails still scratch at you?”</p><p>“Now and again.” Mito sighs, her breath warm on Hashirama’s throat. “You make it easier.”</p><p>“I do?”</p><p>“Of course. You love very easily, Hashirama. This would be much harder if I were married to someone like your brother. I care for Tobirama, of course, but-”</p><p>“But he doesn't love freely,” Hashirama finishes. Loving comes at a cost for his little brother; Tobirama keeps it to himself, hidden in his chest, until it's forced out of him. “It's a good thing I was born first, then.”</p><p>Mito snorts but sobers quickly. “I'd like to walk in our village without being looked at warily. I understand their fear and why they avoid me, but it does hurt. If the monster got out, it would kill me in the process. I chose to be a sacrifice, but I'm in no rush to die.</p><p>“It means something to them that you hold my hand. You’re always too familiar with people, and continuing to be too loud about our marriage reassures them as much as it reassures me.”</p><p>She touches his chest. “You make me feel loved, Hashirama. You make me happy. Being a jinchuuriki isn't as unbearable as I'd feared because I’m not alone.”</p><p>Hashirama can't give Mito the life she deserves. He can't make the village see her and love her for paying the price that comes with being their strongest protection.</p><p>He wants to promise her that the villagers will overcome their fear of her in time, but he's learned not to make assumptions about other people's happiness.</p><p>All he can do is hold his wife close and try to keep the cold out.</p><p>“I know I’m going to outlive you,” she says, tilting her head to press her forehead to his chest. “Even if you weren't letting yourself die, Uzumakis are long-lived and I’m younger than you.”</p><p>Heart in his throat, Hashirama tries to pull away to argue, only for Mito to object sharply.</p><p>“We both know you didn't survive killing Madara.” She draws a shaky breath in. “I'm not going to ask you to stay indefinitely, but I’m going to have a child. The seal has been weakening, and I don't know what's going to happen when I give birth. I need you to stay through that.</p><p>“Stay long enough to see our child and ensure the monster doesn't get free; let me have that. Then you can go.”</p><p>Hashirama squeezes Mito to his chest. “I wouldn't leave you without meeting the little one.”</p><p>“Good, because I don't want the first man the child hears to be your brother.” Mito huffs. “He’ll be present as the child grows, and I'll have to fight him every step. I know he's aware there are other pronouns; I’ve heard him mention them. But here he is, barely forty, speaking like the old man everyone calls him.”</p><p>They share a quiet laugh over Hashirama’s brother and what a terrible influence he'd be.</p><p>A toddler who says washi like Tobirama and looks at the world with Tobirama’s judgmental glare would certainly counter Hashirama's reputation, though it would feed into Mito’s.</p><p>Mito, who will raise their child without Hashirama.</p><p>It's a sobering thought, as was the reminder that none of them has any idea of what will happen when Mito gives birth. She’s the first jinchuuriki to get pregnant, and she’ll be the first to give birth as well.</p><p>This isn't new just to her; it's new to the world.</p><p>“I’ll hold your hand the entire time,” Hashirama promises. “Unless I have to make seals. Then I'll need you to hold my wrist.”</p><p>Mito hums in thought. “I'll probably break it.”</p><p>“It will heal.”</p><p>She doesn't point out that Hashirama not healing is the problem. She doesn't tell him that she knows he loved Madara more than he loves her, and Hashirama doesn't tell her that he knows that back in Uzushio, there was someone she'd been excited to marry. They loved other people first, but they love each other now. They're happy together now.</p><p>They might have been happier in another world, but they aren't unhappy in this one.</p><p>Hashirama will stay long enough to keep his wife and their child safe.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>Tsunade</b>
</p><p>“She's never going to learn to sleep on her own at this rate,” Misato complains. “Really, Father.”</p><p>Hashirama looks up and smiles. “She reminds me of you when you were this small. You were so loud when you were awake, always finding trouble, but the moment you got tired, you'd fall asleep right where you were. It's impressive that made it all the over to me.”</p><p>From her spot lying face down on his chest, Tsunade sighs in her sleep. Her long blonde hair is a mess; even the sections cut short at her cheeks, chin, and shoulders are dirty and tangled.</p><p>There was a slug on her forehead when she burst into the room to see him, eyes alight and breathing hard. She'd pouted so hard when he tried to take it off, he'd given up.</p><p>She fell asleep almost the moment she collapsed on top of him, too young to remember her mother’s warning to be careful with her grandfather.</p><p>Hashirama reaches up and runs his fingers through the ends of Tsunade’s hair, hoping to remove some of the debris.</p><p>“She already wants to grow it all long again,” Misato tells him. She sits down beside him on the floor, her own hair swinging gently as she does. It's the same bright red as her mother’s, but unlike Mito, who still wears her hair up, Misato’s hangs loose. It's even longer than Hashirama’s.</p><p>Sighing, she also runs her fingers through Tsunade’s hair. “The first thing she said this morning was, ‘I want to look like Grandfather again.’ She was so upset, you'd think it had all been cut off.”</p><p>“And why wouldn't she want to look like me?” Hashirama asks lightly. “One of your ought to.” </p><p>It's a running joke that Hashirama and Mito’s children inherited his stubbornness and her looks; it seems the next generation is going to have his stubbornness but look like neither of them.</p><p>He had no say in the matter, but there are times he catches Mito looking at him like she thinks he willed their children into looking like her, as if Hashirama decided he wasn't going to leave any reminder that he'd been here when he leaves, not even in his children.</p><p>“I have a loving grandchild,” Hashirama says proudly. “She probably made this mess winning a bet with her friends.”</p><p>His fingers catch on a knot, and when he gently works it open, a pebble falls out. Hashirama and Misato watch it bounce off Tsunade’s shoulder and tumble to the ground.</p><p>“If I didn't know better, between the scowl and her tendency to collect things, I’d say she was Uncle Tobirama’s grandchild,” Misato says. Her expression is serene, but there's laughter in her voice. "She could have simply learned to enjoy gambling from you."</p><p>Hashirama snorts.</p><p>“If your uncle had managed to have a child, I would have died from shock,” Hashirama tells his daughter. He’s spent years trying to get Tobirama to marry, and all Hashirama wants for his brother is a companion. Yet Tobirama seems to prefer the company of the few assistants who've taken a liking to him. Hashirama ought to do something nice for the men; Tobirama can be difficult even when he's trying to be nice. “I’d be surprised if he's had an impure thought in his life.”</p><p>Tobirama's uninterest in carnal things could have made him an admirable monk, but the enlightenment he’s chasing isn't the kind that monks seek.</p><p>Instead of laughing, Misato stills. “You're still bruised from Tsunade accidentally hitting you with a rock.” She touches his arm just above the bruise. “I heard Mother speaking with Uncle. You aren't just not healing. Old wounds are reopening.”</p><p>“I'm an old man,” Hashirama reminds her.</p><p>“Old men’s bodies don't do what yours is doing,” Misato argues. She frowns at the bruise on his arm, the mark exposed when he reached out of the duvet to untangle his granddaughter's hair. “You stayed this long so you could help Mother, right?”</p><p>She's the oldest of Hashirama’s children and the one most like Mito.</p><p>He shakes his head. “No, I stayed this long because the moment I saw each of my children, I loved you too much to leave. I wanted to see you grow old enough to drink. I had to know each of you lived long enough to blacken your teeth. I wanted to meet my first grandchild.” He looks down at Tsunade, who hasn't stirred. “Living a long life is difficult, but there have been good things.”</p><p>Misato pulls her hand away. “I'm going to help Mother cook. Can you keep an eye on Tsunade?”</p><p>Hashirama nods and gestures for her to get going. “She and I will be fine.”</p><p>He closes his eyes as Misato gets to her feet and listens as she walks away.</p><p>Without looking, he returns to finger combing Tsunade’s hair, gently working out the tangles until his body starts to feel heavy and he lets himself drift off.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>Madara</b>
</p><p>“You're heavy,” Madara complains, his face pressed into the pillow. “Get off.”</p><p>Hashirama leans more of his weight on Madara. He's pushing his luck, but Madara sounds more sleepy than annoyed. Hashirama has a lot of luck to push.</p><p>Nosing at the back of Madara’s shoulder, he takes a long, happy breath in and lets it out slowly. Madara is warm, and he fits nicely under Hashirama. Tomorrow will be stressful; Tobirama has Hashirama’s schedule full from sunrise to after dusk. The list of laws and scrolls Hashirama is going to spend the day looking over is long, and his brother has threatened not to help him.</p><p>Hashirama doesn't want to do any of it.</p><p>“Will you come with me tomorrow?” he asks, swinging one leg over Madara’s and shifting more of his weight onto his unusually cooperative target. “Just for a little while?”</p><p>Madara grunts, but all he says is, “I’m busy, too, you know.”</p><p>“Oh? With what?”</p><p>“A demonstration at the Academy. The Uchiha teacher broke his hand in a sparring match, and none of your teachers are comfortable enough with katon to do it properly, so I volunteered.”</p><p>Hashirama doesn't hide his smile as he kisses Madara’s shoulder a second time. He'd heard from Tobirama that Madara was going to teach a lesson. Madara can feign disinterest all he likes; Hashirama knows how happy Madara is to see children from all of Konoha’s clans learning and playing together.</p><p>“Will you show me when I get home?”</p><p>“You've seen it already. I've used every technique I know on you.”</p><p>“Those aren't the same,” Madara argues. “And stop trying to weasel your way into my bed. You have your own.”</p><p>Stop trying to share- not “leave me alone”.</p><p>With no sign of being thrown off, Hashirama swings up the remaining limb not pinning Madara.</p><p>“If this is an attempt to try for more of earlier,” Madara warns.</p><p>Swallowing a laugh, Hashirama kisses the back of Madara’s neck. Madara still smells faintly sweaty despite using the entire bucket to wash himself off, but Hashirama happily kisses him again.</p><p>“Hashirama, what did I just say?”</p><p>“I'm not trying anything,” Hashirama promises. “I’m just getting comfortable.”</p><p>Madara sighs. “It’s going to get too hot.”</p><p>“But it isn't too hot now.”</p><p>Hashirama is wheedling, pushing his luck to the point where it may snap, but as he brushes a soft kiss to the nape of Madara’s neck, Madara only sighs.</p><p>He doesn't say anything after that, so Hashirama closes his eyes and lets his mind drift, lulled by the slow movements of Madara’s chest as he breathes. Between it and the way Madara’s breath had come earlier, his chest heaving first as he tried to catch his breath from chasing Hashirama through their house, then from Hashirama pushing him on his back and fucking him, Hashirama couldn't choose a favorite.</p><p>Everything about Madara is his favorite, even the parts that hurt.</p><p>“I'm not going anywhere,” Madara mumbles. “You don't have to suffocate me to keep me.”</p><p>“Is that a promise?” Hashirama asks, throat tight. He doesn't open his eyes.</p><p>Warm fingers close around Hashirama’s.</p><p>“You know I don't make promises.”</p><p>Disappointed despite himself, Hashirama nods. His cheek brushes against Madara’s hair with the motion. Madara’s hair isn't soft, but Hashirama likes the way it feels.</p><p>Madara let him braid it last week. It wasn't until they got home that Madara realized Hashirama had woven flowers into it, but the village had already seen. Madara will never be as intimidating. He’ll always be the man who let their hokage put flowers in his hair.</p><p>He isn't as angry about that as he would be if he'd wanted the villagers to fear him.</p><p>“I know,” Hashirama tells him. “But you will one day. I know it.”</p><p>Madara squeezes his hand.</p><p>Hashirama squeezes back.</p><p>There's nothing more to say, and Madara’s even breaths rock Hashirama to sleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Technically, what Tobirama does is probably closer to what medical ninjas do, but if you can direct chakra by hitting yourself, Tobirama can help Hashirama by petting him</p><p>You can say hi on <a href="https://asotin.tumblr.com">tumblr</a> if you want to! Sometimes I post scraps of fics, but 98% of the time I post nonsense</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>